Eph. 2:8,9 – For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

I have to laugh thinking back about the CD cover of one of our Victory Fellowship music projects called ON AND ON. It was a photograph of someone (actually it was Missionary James Widener) fully clothed and swimming in the bottomless ocean of God’s love. We were in an unusual season of outpouring at our church and it seemed as if we..

2 CORINTHIANS 5:19 NIV
19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not
counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us
the message of reconciliation.

The Good News is about reconciliation between God and man.
Jesus Christ accomplished it.

Mankind was estranged from God. We had gone our own way, were
lost, and couldn't find our way back to fellowship with God.
Fortunately, God loved us and did something to help us.

Two extremely important ideas are presen..

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
James 4:7
Morning
Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. § “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.'” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be abl..

Editors’ note: Last month a unanimous jury sentenced Dylann Roof to death for killing nine black churchgoers as they attended Bible study in a Charleston, South Carolina church. The reaction to Roof’s sentencing has rekindled discussions—even among victims’ families—about whether Christians should support capital punishment. To consider both side of the debate, TGC is presenting personal essays on the death penalty by Matthew Arbo, assistant professor of biblical and theological studies at Oklah..

Editors’ note: Last month a unanimous jury sentenced Dylann Roof to death for killing nine black churchgoers as they attended Bible study in a Charleston, South Carolina church. The reaction to Roof’s sentencing has rekindled discussions—even among his victims’ families—about whether Christians should support capital punishment. To consider both side of the debate, TGC is presenting personal essays on the death penalty by Matthew Arbo, assistant professor of biblical and theological studies at O..

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The Christian church knows this excruciating cry from both the Gospels and the Psalms (Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34; Ps. 22:1). But how did Jesus come to inhabit the lament of his royal ancestor, breathing David’s agonized prayer as his own?

After his resurrection, Christ taught his disciples that the Psalms—indeed, the entire Old Testament—had testified about him (Luke 24:27, 44). Christ was teaching that all of Scripture is fulfilled in him—that he walks t..

The exhibit hall resembled a department store in December as women circled dozens of tables piled with colorful goods. Only it was summer, and shoppers had the singular goal of purchasing gospel resources—books, Bibles, DVDs, and more.

Women flooded into the Indianapolis Convention Center last June to attend The Gospel Coalition’s third National Women’s Conference (TGCW16). The three-day event became the largest TGC gathering to date with more than 7,300 women from all 50 states and 40 countrie..

In 1975, when he was just 13 years old, Ed Copeland spent his summer working in the cornfields of Illinois. Although he eventually became a lawyer, a pastor, and a TGC Council member, he was first a detasseler, removing the top most part from corn plants to encourage cross-pollination and higher yields.

It was “grueling and tedious” work, Ed says, but it prepared him for the pastorate.

Perseverance

Detasseling was “a rite of passage” in the Corn Belt. Teenage boys “too young to work at fast-..

Rev. 5:5,6 – And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

I read this sermon, THE EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST, by Jonathan Edwards for the first ti..

Does leadership have to be a lonely venture? Listen to some of the most prominent voices on leadership, within Christian circles and beyond, and you will be reminded that leadership more often than not brings with it a measure of aloneness.

The leader will, at times, find himself or herself standing alone. And the experience can make one feel as though there is no one else who fully understands the burden of decisions and pressure. A 2012 survey reported half of all CEOs expressed feelings of l..